Dry Rot  - Sadly, just not funny enough

COMEDY is difficult to pull-off on stage. Farce is darn near impossible. It’s the downfall of many an over-optimistic amateur theatre company and now even Keswick Theatre appears to be struggling with this genre. 
Dry Rot was written 60 years ago by John Chapman and a dated script proves a handicap for the players before they even start but it shouldn’t in itself prove fatal. 
Indeed, the actors give a slick and reasonably fast-moving performance. But the occasional chuckle was the best achieved during this performance 
The direction by Ian Forrest seemed unimaginative. The comic action (relying on characters getting their foot stuck in the dry rot of the staircase, trousers falling down and the usual misunderstandings) appeared as tired and dated as the script. 
It is at least tame enough to make it a family show, and there were plenty of younger audience-goers. But these are youngsters used to the sharp, edgy and sometimes vicious humour of CBBC – it was clear that getting a foot stuck in a floorboard was just not going to cut it. 
Mr Forrest and other directors at Keswick have often turned dull patches of script into something remarkable thanks to clever direction and novel bits of theatre but for the most part these are all missing in Dry Rot. And it’s not been that long since they turned the ‘dated’ script of Arsenic and Old Lace into a modern-day hit.
 Whole scenes (practising riding a horse on the back of a couch, drinking afternoon tea) ramble on for several minutes with every attempt at eliciting a laugh falling on deaf ears. 
At times the show did start to kick into action. When the Frenchman Polignac (Adrian Metcalfe) comes on stage the laughs start to flow. Perhaps it’s the natural delivery (as opposed to the over-the-top shouting the cast generally rely on) which makes it work. Similarly the genuine confusion between the landlord Colonel Wagstaff (Stephen Aintree) and landlady (Nicky Goldie) over a piano is delivered dead-pan and produces some good giggles. 
It’s hard as a reviewer to gauge whether it’s just you – the critic – having a bad night. And to be fair, there did seem to be some in the audience enjoying much of the show. But I suspect the majority were disappointed by this lack-lustre and often unfunny farce. 
Keswick Theatre aren’t afraid to change and adapt shows as they continue their run through the summer and I suspect  (and hope) that when others go to see the show it will have improved markedly (feel free to comment below and let me know). 

•  Dry Rot runs until November 9. Phone 017687 74411 or visit www.theatrebythelake.co.uk.